Field sound recording in La Mesa Ecopark, at the La Mesa Watershed Reservation: a protected area which preserves the only major watershed in Metro Manila, Philippines. Photo by Dru Ubaldo.
Every month, the Agam Agenda shares a letter from someone in our team: a personal message toward shaping kinder futures. Read the letter for September 2022 by Dru Ubaldo, our Sound Engineer.
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resonance
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Hello, everyone!
It’s Dru
and it’s my turn to share this month,
September, 2022.
For sound engineers, field recording work gives us a chance to leave our caves
to record the sounds of the exterior world.
Struck by the stillness and silence of the pandemic lockdowns,
I was mesmerized when the birdsongs got louder, denser, and full of life.
I learned that certain studies found that birds living in noisy urban conditions sing at a higher pitch
than those living in a forest habitat, making it harder for the former to use their songs to attract a mate
or defend their home.
It has always been a battle for sonic space between species,
and sound pollution gives birds
a severe evolutionary disadvantage.
In what ways does the turbulent urban modernity impact our species?
Is it an indifference to sound?
As an exercise, I started recording the different atmospheres of my city.
Capturing continuous 1-hour soundscapes, I found myself in deep meditation – still, silent, mindfully listening.
Admiring the natural patterns, dynamics, rhythms, textures, tones, voicings, and spacings.
Immersing. Learning.
This sonic postcard is my simple attempt to create an imagined acoustic landscape of a kinder future,
using the soundscape of an eco-park in my city at 6 in the morning, one day last February.
This approach opens up a first step,
A cautious reflection on the city
As a shared space
Physically as well as acoustically
So we may begin
To resonate
With and into each other
To open up to and bring in contact
Diverse realities surrounding us
To attend to the complex ecologies
Within which signals are broadcasted,
Received, manipulated, impeded
And, sometimes, exchanged.
—Joeri Bruyninckx
Thank you for listening.
